Blush
by such a dreamer
Summary: Taiora. Taichi takes MAJOR interest in Sora, yet Sora has MAJOR trust issues with him. Chapter 2 now added. One big swear word, so beware. Lol. Read and review please.
1. Chapter 1

Blush

"Hey, Sora," She heard someone say, in that familiar singsong voice. She wanted to keep walking down her school hallway, and run into her English class for an escape. Yet, she had English class with him, so instead she grit her teeth and replied in a strained voice.

"Hi, Taichi."

He came up behind her, and slung a loose arm around her waist, and whispered in her ear, "What's going on?"

She pulled away from him with a look of disgust on her face. "Please, Taichi, not today."

He was so familiar to her, yet she couldn't figure out where she knew him from. She didn't know why she pulled away from his affection either. Because he was constantly interested in her, and because she blatantly rejected him every time; she wasn't too popular in school with her peers.

Taichi had girls waiting to be asked out by him, yet he was only interested in Sora. He was tall, and tanned, with wild chocolate brown hair and eyes to match. He had the nicest grin, kind of lop-sided and playful.

"Fine," Taichi responded, leaving his arm around her waist. "What're you doing tonight?" 

"Nothing, really." She said shortly. "Listen, Taichi - "

"How many times have I told you to call me Tai?"

She continued on, as if she hadn't heard him. "Why do you do this to me?"

He raised his eyebrows. "Do what?"

She didn't want to say torture, because he would definitely take it the wrong way – him being sick and perverted. Instead she said, "You know – flirting with me and stuff?"

He laughed. "Because I like you."

She sighed. She didn't like this one bit. She was attracted to him, because he flirted with her constantly. Sora had been down that road before, and she didn't want to do it again. He was so damn familiar…like they had known each other some time before. And yet, that was impossible.

"I don't think you really like me like that, Taichi."

Still, his arm was around her waist. "How come you think that?"

She shrugged, as she looked up at him. His eyes were so captivating, and right now they were questioning her. "I don't know, I've never really had any guy like me."

He laughed again, and tightened his arm around her. "That's crazy."

She shrugged again, and found they were at their English class. 

- - - 

She walked home silently, not really noticing anything around her. She was kind of upset since her talk with Taichi. 

She cursed herself, not meaning for it to be said out loud; but she did and received many startled looks from those around her.

It was strange, because even though it was possible that Taichi was playing with her mind, and heart, her heart still raced a bit faster when she thought of him.

He wouldn't be the kind of person to play with someone's emotions; she was almost sure of that. She knew him a lot better than she thought, actually, but she still wasn't going to trust him.

"Sora! Wait up!" 

She did, and found herself smiling at him. "Hey, Taichi."

"You never answered my question."

"…"

"What are you doing tonight?" He asked her easily.

"Oh! Sorry, Taichi, I forgot. I don't know. Probably helping my mom in her flower shop." She answered, as they resumed walking again.

"Do you want to do something?"

"I don't know Taichi…we've been over this before…"

"Come on! It isn't a date, or anything." 

"My parents wouldn't approve." Sora said, desperate for an excuse.

"I'll talk to them. I'm a nice boy," He grinned here, "I don't do drugs, I don't smoke, I don't drink, I don't go from girl to girl…"

"Which is strange, considering how popular you are."

He grinned still. "Thanks. Hey, Sora?"

She looked up at him, and responded, "Yeah?"

"What are you afraid of?"

"What do you mean?" She asked, looking at him curiously, feeling her face flush.

"Why are you so afraid of me?"

"…I'm not…" 

He didn't say anything for the rest of the walk home, but according to Sora, there wasn't any reason to trust him. He may not smoke, or drink and he didn't do drugs – but she wasn't sure about the last one that he had mentioned.

- - -

To Taichi it was clear, and had been for along time. He had been teasing her and flirting obviously with her for a long time now, and he had to somehow gain her trust. He tried speaking to one of his best friends about it, Yamato Ishida.

"You found a girl?!?" Yamato had exclaimed when he first found out. He and Taichi were flipping through TV channels, each one lying on a separate couch, with a Coke in hand.

"Yeah," Taichi muttered, "So what? Why are you so surprised?"

"I didn't think you could stay tied to one girl, that's all."

Taichi punched Yamato squarely in the shoulder. "Thanks a lot."

His blonde haired friend rubbed his shoulder and muttered a quick, "No problem."

"Ah, but there is a problem." Taichi responded. "This girl, she doesn't trust me. She's kind of timid, you know? She blushes when I set my arm around her waist and stuff."

Yamato had to try to keep a straight face. "You like this girl then?"

"Yeah, a lot. But she thinks I'm playing with her or something."

"I don't blame her." Yamato said, cracking open his Coke. 

"What? How can you say that?"

"Taichi, you don't really stay long with one girl. And, let's be honest - you flirt like hell. I wouldn't be surprised if she's seen you flirting with another girl."

Taichi was thoughtful. "See, it's funny, because I think that I'm pretty much devoting myself to her." 

"You think that. She probably doesn't." 

"You're right. So no flirting with anyone but her."

"Right." Yamato said, lifting his Coke to Taichi. "Exactly."

"Damn it, Yamato, I'm going to gain her trust."

- - -

"So," Taichi said, the following day. He was on the phone with Sora, the first time he had called her. 

"Taichi, how did you get my phone number?" She said irritably.

"Uh," He began, "I looked it up in the phone book."

"Why?" She demanded.

He rolled his eyes. "Damn it, Sora, I don't know. Because I wanted to talk to you."

"Why?" She said desperately, tears welling up in her eyes. "Taichi, I think I have to go now."

"Sora…"

"Later, Taichi."

She hung up, and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. She really liked him; but for some reason she just couldn't come to grasp the idea that he might actually like her too. Whenever she thought about it; she struck down the idea; thinking it was absolutely stupid.

There were times when the two of them got along, and they were friends, but that was only inside of school. This had all started when she had been partnered up with him in physics class, and he took interest in teasing her and flirting with her. 

He was leading her on. He had to be.

- - -

"Sora, we're skipping English class." Taichi said to her the following week. She had been avoiding him all that week. She had noticed a change though; he no longer hung out with the cheerleaders at lunchtime, and he always wanted to be her partner in whatever classes they had together.

"We can't skip." 

"Yes, we can, and we are." 

"What? Why?"

"I want to find out why you don't trust me, why you pretend you don't care about me, and why you've been avoiding me for the last damn week."

"Oh."

And so, she allowed herself to be dragged along to some unknown destination.

"Is it okay if we go to my apartment?" He asked, looking at her carefully.

Her eyes widened, and she stopped walking. "Oh, Taichi, I don't know."

"Friends, Sora, as friends. I'm not going to force you to do something, anything."

She blushed, but nodded.

When they arrived, he offered her a drink, in which case she took a Coke and they sat down together on his couch. He flipped on the TV. "See? We're just hanging out."

She looked at him skeptically. "What are you trying to do?"

"Actually, I'm trying to gain your trust by becoming friends with you."

"Oh yeah?" 

"Yeah."

"That's a good idea, Taichi." She said softly, taking a sip of her Coke.

They were silent for awhile, until Taichi said, "So, why are you afraid of me?"

"I'm not afraid of you," Sora stressed, "I just don't trust you."

"Thanks."

"Well, it's true."

"Why don't you trust me?" He asked, looking at her. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"I think you've asked enough questions, Taichi. I want to ask you one: Why do you take so much interest in me?"

"Because, you're so different than any other girl I've met before."

"…"

"How do I know that this isn't just some game to you?" Sora asked, folding her arms over her chest.

"You don't. You just have to trust me." 

_That could be a problem…_

~*~

"I want you to come over for dinner tonight, Sora." Taichi said gently, kind of nervous.

"Oh…well, I don't know." Sora said, noticing how a lot of girls looked at her with venomous looks.

"Come on…you can meet my family, and my mom's cooking isn't _that_ bad."

She laughed, but immediately stopped herself. It was funny how just a couple of weeks back, she had not wanted anything to do with him; but she was nice anyway because that was her nature. Now, she actually found herself wanting to be around him.

"I guess…maybe…what time?" She mumbled, not quite meeting his gaze.

"How about 6:30? Then after that we can go to a movie." 

She looked at him, and how his eyes pleaded with her. She felt herself give in. "Sure."

And so, at 6:25, she walked over the Yagami's apartment, clad in loose fitting jeans and a green T-shirt over a long white sleeved shirt.

Taichi answered the door, and welcomed her in, introducing her to his parents and sister. She had seen Hikari around school at times, but had never know that she was Taichi's sister.

Hikari talked to her a little bit, and she was very easy to talk too. She took Sora on a tour of the apartment, and heard Taichi say to his mother, although it was not meant for her, "She's just nervous, so don't do anything to embarrass her, okay?"

His mother nodded. "Does she know how special she is? This is the first girl you've ever brought home for dinner."

He answered shortly, "No, she doesn't trust me all that much."

Dinner went smoothly, for the most part, pausing only when Mr. Yagami said something about being Taichi's new girl. Sora flushed rapidly, and looked down at her plate, while Taichi shot his father looks that could kill.

Other than that, all of the dinner conversation was polite and fun and not at all awkward. Mrs. Yagami wasn't a bad cook either and even went to the trouble to make dessert.

Taichi, Sora and Hikari did the dishes afterwards, eventually leaving Hikari with drying the dishes because they were cutting it close for their movie.

"Thanks, again." Sora said, as Taichi helped her put on her coat. "That was very nice." 

Mrs. Yagami smiled, and patted her hand. "Anytime, I look forward to seeing you again."

And then they were out the door, walking to Taichi's car. 

"So it went okay?" Taichi asked her.

She smiled. "It was great. Your family is amazing."

"Thanks."

"Hey, Taichi?" She asked, blushing a bit, "Thanks for inviting me."

She had an instinct to link her arm around his, but pushed it aside.

"No problem. They like you," he grinned, "but then again, you're hard not to like."

She shot him a playful look. "Don't even start."

They were silent, for awhile, until Sora said, "Something bad is happening here."

Taichi opened the car door for her, and went around to the driver's side. "What?"

"I'm starting to enjoy your company."

- - - 

Wow, another Taiora by me – my list is getting quite long. I don't Taichi, or Sora, or Yamato, or any other character of Digimon. I kind of like this fiction, it is a bit different than anything I've ever written before. Read and review, will you? I would appreciate it.


	2. Chapter 2

"So, how is it going with that girl of yours, Taichi?" Yamato asked him sometime the next week. They stood around the school yard at lunch time."I've noticed you hanging around her a lot."

He shrugged. "Yeah, I really like her."

"Does she trust you yet?" 

"A bit."

"Damn – so you haven't been getting lucky yet?" Yamato said, laughing his ass off. 

Taichi punched Yamato (again) in the arm, and either of them didn't doubt that it hurt. "Fuck off, Yamato," he growled, looking at him. "Don't talk about her like that."

Yamato clutched his arm (again) in pain and said carefully, "You really like her."

"What have I been telling you for the last three weeks?"

"I've listened to you tell me, but I never believed it. It's one of those things – I had to see it to believe it."

"Thanks a lot."

"Oh, here she comes now." Yamato indicated to the copper haired girl coming their way.

"Sora!" Taichi called, grinning at her. She smiled shyly back, and looked carefully at Yamato. 

"Hi, Taichi." She said, walking to his side. He grasped her hand, and laced together their fingers in response, as she blushed. Was that meant the way she thought it was supposed to be meant?

"Wow, you weren't joking when you said she was shy." Yamato commented, brushing his blonde hair out of the way. "I'll see you guys later."

"I'm not _that_ shy," Sora stated stubbornly. 

"No, but you're pretty close." Taichi said, and then seeing her amused face, he added, "I think it's cute though."

- - -

"Mama?" Sora called, as she put on her coat, "I'm leaving for Taichi's now."

A faint, voice filtered its way through the apartment, "You seem to be spending a lot of time with him."

"He's my friend."

Her mother came out of her room and looked at her daughter funny. "Are you sure?"

Sora felt her face flush, and quickly hid her face behind a couple of locks of her copper hair. "I'm going to be late if I don't leave now."

Her mother smirked. 

"When do I get to meet him?" She called after her, but Sora had already left.

- - - 

"So, how is Sora?" Mrs. Yagami asked her teenage son, once he got home from school. "You haven't mentioned much about her since she came over for dinner."

Taichi grinned at his mother. "I'm almost there, mom. She's coming over right now to work on some homework with me."

His mother smiled at him, just as someone knocked on the door. "I'm glad, she seems like a very nice girl."

"She is, mom, she is."

Taichi opened the door, to find Sora, her cheeks red from the cold wind. "Hey, Sora."

"Hi," She breathed, putting a hand to her chest. And then, indicating why she had run from her apartment, "It's kind of scary when it's dark."

Taichi laughed. "I'll walk you home when you have to leave, then."

"I'll see you later, then Taichi," Mrs. Yagami said, grabbing her purse. "Nice to see you again, Sora."

"Later, mom," Taichi said cheerfully, stopping to grin and then wink at Sora.

She raised her eyebrows in question, and then said politely, "You too, Mrs. Yagami."

Taichi's mother left, and Taichi said easily, "So, we're all alone. Is that okay with you?"

She nodded.

"So, you've let yourself trust me?"

She nodded again. "I like hanging out with you, Taichi."

He was flattered as she had proved that it had took some work to gain her trust and friendship, but he marveled at how close they had become. He was used to getting his way with girls whenever he wanted, but in this case it didn't matter, because it was Sora, and Sora was worth waiting for.

Half an hour later, Taichi threw down his protractor in frustration. He stated, "It's Friday night."

She nodded, biting on the end of her ruler, continuing on with her math. 

"We're sitting here doing homework," he continued as if she cared.

She looked up at him. "Well, what do you want to do instead?"

"Let's go out. Catch a movie, go for something to eat, anything."

"I don't have any money, though," She said, casting her gaze downwards. "Can I pay you back later?"

"You don't have to pay me back. It's my treat." Taichi said, grinning at her. "Let's go! I'm not used to staying home on Friday nights."

She looked surprised, but obliged.

- - - 

She was happy. She had become a friend with an amazing person, and she liked everything about him. Except the way he seemed to have a lot of female followers.

"Hey, Takenouchi." A female voice spat. Standing in the schoolyard by herself, Sora suddenly felt very small and vulnerable. This wouldn't be her first run in with these girls…

She slowly turned around, to find a pack of five or more girls, their hands on their hips.

"Rumor has it, you've been seeing a lot of Yagami Taichi lately." 

She said nothing, thinking she would lose whether or not she nodded or shook her head.

"Yeah," the leader of the girls drawled, "We don't like it."

Two arms slid around Sora's waist, and she recognized the immediately. 

"Sora-chan!" A male voice said, "I've missed you."

Taichi kissed her cheek lightly, to the surprise of all of the girls. He tightened his hold on her. "What's going on here?"

The girl spat, "I don't know what you're doing with her, Taichi-san, when you could have been with one, or more, of us. Your prime opportunity could be the upcoming dance this Wednesday."

He rolled his eyes. "Get out of here, I have a date already."

The scampered away, but not before eyeing Sora evilly. She twisted out of his grasp when they were gone.

"What are you trying to do? Get me killed?" Sora practically shouted, with her hands on her hips. "This will just make them more jealous. You had better attend my funeral, Taichi."

"I'm showing them that if they mess with you, they mess with me. You can't go around just letting them push you around. I've seen them around you before, Sora, and it won't be happening any longer." 

"I'm not your average 'damsel in distress', Taichi. I could have handled it."

"I'm sure you could have," he said confidently, a slight smirk on his face. 

"I could have," she said stubbornly. 

"Next time I'll let you handle it. In the meantime, how would you like to go to the dance with me?" He asked, sticking his hands in his pockets. "You never know, it _could_ be fun."

"I don't go to dances. I don't dance." 

"Please? We don't have to dance. We can sit at a table the entire night if you want."

"Why me? You just saw that you had girls waiting to be asked out by you."

"Because, I want to go with _you_."

"Oh, fine." Sora responded exasperatedly. 

- - - 

He appeared on her doorstep dressed in black dress pants and a collared blue shirt. He tugged at a couple pieces of his hair nervously before ringing the bell.

She opened the door, dressed in a knee-length skirt and red tank shirt. "Don't laugh, Taichi. This will probably be the last time you see me in a dress until my wedding."

He did laugh, but not because of what she wore. "Why would I laugh at you? You look great."

She felt her face flush, and he laughed again as he reached for her hand. "Let's go."

The gym was full of people, and the music was loud. The first thing that Taichi did was lead her onto the dance floor, despite her whining and pleading.

They danced a couple of times that night, most fast dancing, but Taichi sucked her in for one slow dance. It was nice. He smelled good, and it felt good to be leaning against him at such a close level.

They saw the girls from the week before a couple times dressed quite inappropriately. Sora and Taichi laughed and continued dancing.

When Taichi walked her home that night, she felt really awkward. She had enjoyed herself thoroughly, and even though they were holding each other's hands, there was no final commitment. 

They stood on her doorstep, Taichi still holding her hand, the other one in his pocket. "Thanks for coming with me, Sora."

She laughed. "You're right, it wasn't that bad."

They were silent for a minute, before Taichi pulled her closer and dipped his mouth down on hers. Her arms wound their way up around his neck, and her hands found their way tangled into his hair. 

They pulled away, quite breathless. 

Taichi grinned, and Sora blushed.

- - -

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

Notes: I think this was the end. I liked how it turned out, so read and review, please. Thanks to those who reviewed my last chapter!


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